Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


One of the more intriguing developments this week deals with Starbucks and their decision to reverse course on their vaccine mandate for employees.  While the second article on union membership (or lack there of) is worth noting, I think the article on Starbucks and their vaccine policy is worth leading things off for now.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.



Earlier this year, Starbucks had announced plans to require its workforce to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this mandate for large scale employers (such as Starbucks), Starbucks announced it would not move forward with requiring its workforce get vaccinated.  I would call this a noteworthy update as to my knowledge, Starbucks is the first company to rescind the vaccine mandate following the Supreme Court’s ruling.  The question then arises, will other company’s follow?



Union membership dropped last year to approximately 14 million workers, or about 10.3% of all workers. Following a brief uptick in union membership in 2020 (which many attributed to a steep drop off in non union workers at the beginning of the coronavirus), last year’s drop off continues the nearly 4 decade decrease in union membership.  Perhaps the one bright spot for labor advocates is the recent unionization of the two Starbucks locations in Buffalo (and perhaps other Starbucks in the coming months), given that Starbucks had successfully been able to beat back unionization efforts in the past.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more